


How to climb out of the Friendzone 101

by Selantro



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, F/M, Fluff, Light Angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-06
Updated: 2020-04-19
Packaged: 2021-03-02 05:29:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,613
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23729824
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Selantro/pseuds/Selantro
Summary: "How do you crawl out of the friend zone when you're competing with 9 other people for the same girl and she keeps dating other people?""Don't ask me dude. We're both going after the same girl."
Relationships: Dong Si Cheng | WinWin/Reader, Jung Yoonoh | Jaehyun/Reader, Kim Dongyoung | Doyoung/Reader, Kim Jungwoo (NCT)/Reader, Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Reader, Lee Taeyong/Moon Taeil, Lee Taeyong/Reader, Mark Lee (NCT)/Reader, NCT Ensemble/Reader, Nakamoto Yuta/Reader, Suh Youngho | Johnny/Reader
Kudos: 27





	How to climb out of the Friendzone 101

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first nct fanfic and first fanfic on Ao3 in general. Don't roast me too hard. Also I'm aware that the first line is what Nagisa says in the 50% off version of Free! Iwatobi swim club.

"What up sluts! Guess who just got out of prison."

"Oh shut it Y/N, chem can't be that bad."

"This coming from someone who didn't take chem. The audacity."

The soft sound of a pair of sneakers walking into the apartment was heard as you stepped in, already about to whine about your previous hellhole of a class. Just as you were about to approach the couch your oh so wonderful friend Seulgi was laying on, her finger shot up to silence your incoming wave of complaining. 

"Nice color." You teased with an eyebrow quirked at the coat of polish on the brunette's nail.

"Thanks, but not the point. Nayeon's throwing a party tonight." She voiced, now gracefully waving her hand around the air.

"And this applies to me how?" You pressed.

"Taehyung's going to be there." She answered victoriously with a sign song tone in her sweet voice.

"Fine. I'll be out at 10." You begrudgingly gave in as you headed towards your room to chill. 

At about 9:45, you stepped out of your self isolation(aka your room) in a satin crop top and black high waist skinny jeans. Nothing too fancy, but not something you'd really wear on a daily basis. After all, this wasn't your first rodeo. Although it was the first party you'd gone to with a specific goal in mind. Not that you really had a plan with what you'd do with the cute guy you'd been checking out in art. Maybe get drunk off your ass and make a fool of yourself. That would be horrible. 

Going to the party was such a mistake. Seulgi left your side the moment you stepped into the damn house. About five minutes into walking around aimlessly, you spotted your little crush sitting on the couch surrounded by his group of friends. Spotting him honestly wasn't that hard of a thing to do considering his eye-catching fiery red locks and expensive Gucci fit. Much unlike you, who blended into crowds a bit easier than him, he seemed to be the center of attention. So why in the hell was he looking at you with a smile on his face? Just enough panic crawled into your system to convince you to run away to the closest safe haven you could find; the kitchen. 

Kitchens often offer usual things; usually food. Fortunately, this kitchen offered just the thing you needed. Liquid luck;alcohol. You knew enough to know someone probably spiked the punch with a surplus of alcohol. Just what you needed at the moment. You promised yourself not to get too drunk, but desperate times called for desperate measures. An entire cup of the mysterious drink was soon chugged. Next, you set off to find Seulgi or really anyone you knew to get a pep talk. Hopefully, she wasn't already drunk like most of the people at this party. 

In no time, you were stumbling around the house in a confused daze, for you'd forgotten what the hell you were trying to do in the first place. Curse your weak genes for making you such a lightweight. Or maybe curse that beverage you'd downed a while back. Unfortunately for you, the world looked like a blur of colors and moving objects. As fate would have it, your body slammed against the wall in your drunken stupor as you tried to coordinate going literally anywhere.

"Y/N?" 

Upon picking up the sound of your name, you swiveled around to face an unknown individuals's chest. Instinctively, your eyes wandered upwards. Matte ruby was the first thing you could really make out. 

"Taeeeee-" You slowed down to decipher who the hell was actually in front of you, having initially assumed the person was the red haired art major from the living room. "-Yongieee!" You eventually finished. You were delighted to find your close friend at the party and flung yourself towards the man to give him a bone crushing hug. 

"Are you okay?" He asked, concern dominating his tone as he plucked your body off of his and held you at an arm's length to inspect you.

"MMmmm. I'm great! Why wouldn't I be....Aside from Taetae not noticing me~" You slurred, almost incoherently.

"You just fell onto a wall." He pointed out before lifting your arm to look at the elbow you landed on. A small scrape graced your skin and he could tell that the area would bruise later. Thanks to years of taking care of the group of children he called his friends, Taeyong's motherly instinct kicked in in full swing. "Let's clean that up yeah."

You giggled as the red head grabbed your hand and led you to a quieter area, away from the loud, blaring music. After a bit of searching, Taeyong decided on sitting you down on the bed of an empty bedroom. "Stay here. I'm gonna look for disinfectant or a band aid or something." He instructed as he knelt down to get eye level with you.

"Yongie you're leaving me already?" You pouted, wide eyes staring up at your friend as he stood up. A heart fluttering smile adorned his handsome face and he leaned over to pat your head. 

"I'll be right back." 

Even though he didn't take a very long time, Taeyong should've known better than to trust you to stay still when you were drunk. Hell, he knew better than to trust you sober. It didn't prevent the redhead from nearly having a heart attack when he came back to an empty bedroom. The moment he saw the vacant area, he scampered into the room to see if you were initiating some twisted game of hide and seek. Much to his chagrin, you were nowhere to be found. Not in the room anyways.

Quickly, the male scurried down the hallway, checking every room that wasn't already locked. A prickly feeling entered his heart as he thought of the possibility of you being in one of the locked rooms, hooking up with a stranger. He knew it wasn't his place to tell you who to canoodle with and whom not to, but he couldn't stop the small pangs of heartache from the thought of seeing you with someone else. 

With a little more motivation to keep you safe, the male made his way down the stairs to look in the living room. Scenarios of you tripping down the stairs rolled into his already distressed mind. Upon seeing the open door at the bottom of the stairs, images of you wandering the streets drunk flashed before his eyes. "Please please be okay." He whispered to himself as he turned to head into the living room. 

Taeyong's heart dropped at the sight in front of him. You were sitting on the lap of a random guy, giggling profusely while your arms were wrapped around his neck. Except he wasn't random. Taeyong knew you had been developing a small crush on the art major because you'd texted him about it before. At first, he wasn't too worried about your newest attraction cause you'd never acted on past crushes and you moved on the moment you saw a hottie in whatever anime you'd started watching next. So why did his heart feel like it was going to shatter into a million tiny shards? He didn't know how to react. All he could feel was that sinking pain in his stomach urging him to just go home. Even after that, he couldn't help but feel selfish for wanting to flee.

The male was about to turn to leave, when E/C eyes caught sight of the dark red hair at the other side of the room. Soon, you were falling off of the male's lap and wobbling your way towards your friend. "Yooonnnggggiiiee!!" You squealed excitedly, gathering the attention of anyone who wasn't drunk or passed out. "I missed you! You took so long." You cried, tears quickly welling up in your eyes whilst you latched onto him like a sloth.

"Ahh Y/N, I'm sorry. I was just looking for the stuff. I only found a band aid." He explained a bit helplessly. 

"Shhhhhh." You shushed, holding up a finger to his lips while stumbling backwards a bit. "Let's have a sleepover Yongie. I missssed you." You slurred once again, now swaying a bit. 

"Um.."

"Oh my god Tae~ I love you so much. Why don't you love me baaaack." You groaned. Your shiny, tear filled eyes gazed up at the red haired male in the cutest display of puppy dog eyes Taeyong had ever seen come from you. 

"Sure." He said quietly. 

A strange concoction of emotions swirled within Taeyong as he drove you to the apartment he shared with the rest of his friends. For the most part, he stayed silent. It was only until the two of you arrived at his place, did he speak up. It was only a few words to tell you to watch your step. 

Once you got into his apartment, you tripped on a stray backpack that probably Yuta left on the floor. He must've really wanted to get away from his work. Unfortunately for you, Yuta's less than tidy habits led to your downfall. Literally. Taeyong, who had been busy locking to door behind him didn't notice your body descending until it actually made contact with the floor, culminating in a loud thump. From the floor, you groaned, twisting around to lay on the ground. 

"You okay?" The male chuckled. 

"I just got attacked by the floor monster. Why does everyone hate me!" You cried. 

"It's okay Y/N." The male reassured as he helped you stand up. 

Since you knew the apartment so well, you had no trouble parading over to the red head's lone room and throwing open the door. "Too hot." You mumbled. A top flew trough the air as you tossed it off your body and proceeded to rid yourself of your jeans. 

"Woah, Oh my god!" Taeyong yelped as you began to strip. His cheeks flushed bright red as he swiveled to look away. Thinking quickly, the male ran to pull out a large shirt from his closet. With his eyes secured shut, the male tiptoed to the bed, where you were already climbing in. 

"Please at least put this on," the man insisted, putting the white shirt out in front of him. 

"Okie."

After a bit of shuffling sounds, all Taeyong could hear was silence. Tentatively, he peeked open an eye to find that you were fast asleep in his bed. The male sighed before reaching over to place you on your side. At least he knew enough to prevent you from doing something stupid like dying in your sleep. He felt just a little bit creepy watching you in your slumber, but you just looked so peaceful dosing off into the land of fantasy. 

A frown made itself present on his handsome features as he noticed your makeup. He hung out enough with you to know that your skin would not forgive you for sleeping in makeup. He'd also hung out with you long enough to keep a packet of makeup wipes in the bathroom for when you wanted to rid yourself of it. Taeyong needed to change anyways. Reluctantly, he grabbed his pajamas, tiptoed out of the room, and sneaked down the hallway. 

After a quick shower, the male emerged back in the hallway in a new change of clothes. "Shouldn't you be with that girl you brought back from the party?" A voice ascertained from Taeyong's side. The male turned his head towards the speaker and found himself staring at the shadow covered face of the six foot tall giant they called Johnny. Said giant was strolling down the hallway in his direction with a smirk on his face. His eyebrows were wiggling childishly. 

"Well no, not exactly.." The redhead trailed off as he slunk past his taller counterpart. 

"Who's the hottie this time?" 

Taeyong finally reached the door he was heading to. He looked back to his friend sheepishly and slowly swung open the door. "Well..It's actually Y/N." He bashfully stated. "It's not in the way you expect though." He continued, so soft that the stunned male in front of him couldn't hear him. 

You were still asleep when he returned. Taeyong didn't know whether this would make his task easier or harder, but he brought out the wet wipe nonetheless. He softly pressed the cloth to your eyelid and began to swipe at it. He really didn't know how hard he should've been wiping, but he was trying his best to keep you asleep and keep your skin from getting irritated. It was a painfully long process. At least it felt painful to Taeyong. There was really no way he would've gone about doing this without having to look at your face. 

Unconsciously, his thumb began tracing at your features as he studied every curve and dip of your face. The makeup wipe was long discarded for he had no use for it anymore. Even without the makeup, you were breathtaking. The crimson haired boy felt his heart skip a beat as you leaned into his touch. His dark brown eyes lowered to meet the sight of you parted, plump lips. His own lips were being bitten by his white teeth. Taeyong envied the person you'd marry. They'd get to spend the rest of their life kissing those exact lips, and Taeyong would be stuck as your friend for all eternity. 

His hand withdrew from your face immediately after he noticed your now clean eyelids fluttering open.Your E/C eyes pierced into his soul, causing him to gulp nervously. You stared at his face, which was a mere foot away from your own. God he was handsome. Someone like him would look so good with someone pretty like Seulgi. Unexpectedly, tears began to well up in your eyes. 

"Woah, what's the issue?" He asked with a concerned look on his face. Damn it, he was caring too. More tears began to pour out from your tear ducts as you felt your heart sink. 

"Seulgi's so pretty..." You sobbed. 

Almost as abruptly as it started, your crying stopped. Taeyong knew exactly how to calm you down and it was something you loved about him. His warm hand was patting your head, calming you down and lulling you to sleep. His eyes were amused but soft at the same time. 

"Y/N, I think you're the most beautiful girl in the world." 

This time, unexpected tears of joy were streaming down your face. You were euphoric just thinking about how Taeyong thought of you this way.

"I love you I love you I love you so much Yongiiiiiee!" You cheered, still feeling the effects of inebriation. The sudden urge to cuddle the hell out of the red haired Adonis in front of you pulled at your mind. Your hands tugged at his arms to force him into the bed. "Sleep with me Yongie.." You begged, not processing the implications of the sentence if taken out of context.

"Uhh." Hesitatantly, the flustered male climbed onto the mattress and tucked himself under the covers on the other side of the bed. A gasp escaped his mouth when you latched onto his waist and laid your head on his chest. Like before, you were out like a light bulb, but this time you had Taeyong's hand running through your hair to lull you to sleep. Taeyong, who was now engulfed in the embrace of a warm body, found himself quickly drifting off, a soft smile on his face.


End file.
